Speeding In Switzerland. They Will Get You And You Will Pay!

Speeding In Switzerland. They Will Get You And You Will Pay!

One thing that may surprise you is the voracity of the Swiss Police in catching and punishing drivers who break the law.This is an excerpt of a letter that landed on our doormat yesterday-Briefly translated, the car was traveling at 54 km/h in an area with a limit of 50 km/h. After a rounding down factor of 3 km/h for laser speed traps, the offence was speeding by 1 km/h over the speed limit.This was at 02:08 in the morning. This is merely to point out that speed cases in Switzerland are generally black and white. If you were speeding and you get caught, you are going to be fined with no exception. Always observe speed limits. The fines are expensive, can be cumulative and breaking the limit by larger amounts lead to larger fines and

even

criminal action. Although punitive sentences are rare, they can often be levied but removed upon payment of an even heftier sum. his page shows the rough guidelines for speeding offences and penalties in Switzerland as well as the rounding down applied for different types of speed trap. It is in German but easy enough to follow. Here is the page in English. Just be careful and be especially aware of drops in the speed limit on motorways. If a particularly tricky bend is coming up, the limit will be reduced and this reduction will likely be coupled with a speed trap. If you are not a Swiss resident you will also be pursued for payment, especially if you are from Europe. If you are driving a rental car when you are caught speeding in Switzerland, there is really no way of avoiding payment asthe Swiss will charge the rental company who will then bill you for the fines as well as an admin fee. The first you will know is a charge on your credit card or a bill in the post from the rental company. If you are driving your own car when caught speeding, the Swiss authorities will contact your local Driving authority for your postal address and write to you directly. You can choose to ignore it but this is not wise. This will make you a criminal in Switzerland which is fine if you can guarantee you will never return but if you do come back to Switzerland, you will run into a lot of trouble if you were stopped by the police for any reason. If you have any experiences with speeding offences in Switzerland, please join in with a comment.

Hi, \r\nI was driving in Switzerland a few days ago and received by post a 240CHF fine from the Police for speeding. I’m a EU citizen, do not live in Switzerland and do not plan to go back there soon. Please let me know if, from the info you have, the Swiss will try to collect the fine anyway using the help of my native country’s authorities.\r\nThank you.

Does anyone know if there is a time limit for the Swiss to be able to impose a speeding fine. I just received one dated 29 August 2016 relating to 8 January 2014. I cannot even remember where I was that day!

I’m from the UK. Last month I was in Zurich for 4 days with a rental car. As the excess was high I took my dash cam with me, which also records GPS and speed data.\r\n\r\nWhen returning to my hotel on my last day in Switzerland I saw a flash. I checked my speedometer and I was driving at 48kph. When I returned to the hotel I checked my camera data at the time of the flash and it said I was driving at 45kph when the camera flashed. I returned the rental car in the morning and told the people at Enterprise about my concerns. They told me not to worry as it was probably flashing another vehicle.\r\n\r\nYesterday (6 weeks after my visit) I got an e-mail from Enterprise telling me I had got a fine, exactly like the one above. It said I was doing 54kph, was rounded down to 51kph. Unless both the speedometer in the car and my GPS was wrong then there is no way I was speeding. They say they are charging my CC for 40CHF for the ticket plus 50CHF for the admin fee. I am livid.\r\n\r\nI have preemptively called my credit card company and will get this transaction reversed as soon as it appears.

I am US citizen staying in Germany. I rented a car from SIXT and crossed the border to Switzerland (Neuhausen am Rheinfall). I was zapped by a “blitzer” speed camera that flashed red as I passed. I was going about 60 km/h in a 50 km/h city zone. What should I expect? I’ve read that SIXT will charge me a admin fee (18.5 euros according to their terms and conditions). Then they will hand my information over to the Swiss Authorities who will send a bill to my address in the USA, maybe in a couple of months? I’ve also read that the fine will be probably 120 CHF if my speed was 10 km/h or less over the speed limit. I was slowing down though so I’m not sure exactly what speed they recorded. If it was 13 km/h over the limit, then the fine is 250 CFH. I am also wondering if the tolerance levels for the machine might bump me back down into the lower penalty (120 CHF) if indeed it caught me at 13 km/h over the limit. I will be returning to the USA in a few weeks, but I don’t want to be denied rental car capabilities or access into Switzerland in the future. \r\n\r\nCan anyone verify this information, or let me know what to expect?

I’m from UK. When I visited Swiss, I rented a car in my name (June 2015) and My friend was driving it. At the point, the speed camera flashed at us. 8 months passed and so far we haven’t heard anything from car rental or swiss authorities. I’m planning to visit swiss again. Hope I will not face any trouble. If I do then I’ll have to explain that I was not driving. Hope it is simple.

Swiss authorities are very good at collecting money from people. With a hire car, they would easily be able to charge the rental company, who would then chase you for the money plus an admin fee.\n\nIf you have not heard anything, I would suggest you are in the clear.

I must to say that I have been driving in Switzerland for 10 years and was stopped a couple of times for speeding. First to say, there is no way out of the fine. Just take it and pay it. Second, I was really surprised for the courtesy and professionalism of the police agents who stopped me. They really show training and good manners. Lesson learned: do not speed driving in Switzerland. It is expensive and embarrassing.

I rented a car in November in Switzerland, since it was less expensive than taking the train during my trip. Months later, I received a letter to an address I no longer I reside at in German explaining that criminal action is being taken against me for speeding by 1km/hr and failing to pay the fine. Does anyone know what my options are? I am American and cannot just go to Switzerland to deal with this

Hi Spencer,\r\nAll radar tickets in Switzerland have a free-off the hook 3-5 km/h tolerance, meaning that they will not send you a bill for 1 km/h over the limit. You probably were km/h after the tolerance. Anyway, the easiest way to pay for the fine is a bank transfer. Just keep in mind a couple of things that may be important: fines doesn’t expire and accumulate interests, therefore the longer you wait, the more expensive they become. And second, not paying a fine is a criminal offense, so if you plan to return to Switzerland, better settle this in time.

I had recently and this is quite unbelievable, this instance. firstly two instances I have a UK driving license with 0 points which I still have now for 20 years. Ok firstly I drove from Southern Europe to Switzerland. I had been driving for 6 hours when in the gottard tunnel in Switzerland got there at 00:30 there was a little old lady right over on the right hand side of the lane driving at a very very slow speed, there was 1 car in front of me that went around her, I did do the same and then the same for a car behind. I drove through some 15 KM later past the tunnel was stopped by the police and fined 5K chf for wheels touching the double safety line. Ok I paid the fine.. on with my life. About 3-4 years later I was hit from behind by a woman on the autobahn between rot and baden. I stopped called the police they turned up took a breath test all ok no problem. Gave all my details and testomony which was a hire car fully insured – no other issues. I then got a letter saying I had to pay another 5K which I refused to do based on testimony I filed and my personal feeling about the case (sorry and not being extorted) – I never heard anything else about it but am aware that a process was running. My contracts finished I deregisted in the country left my details etc at the personal amt.. .and I left. Never heard anything about it they had my address etc… 4.5 years later in Germany a place I have travelled through many times I was stopped by the police and told that in Switzerland there was an official document and that they couldn’t find an address for me. Strange as I have been all over Europe and through munich many times and they only wanted to know my address for post. I provided that – actually… and left…. so in my view I am not being ripped off for 5K.. I don’t have any intention to go back there to this place having worked there for 7 years that was enough with these strange miserable creatures that live there. So anyway I thought I would share that… seems now I am some kind of international fugitive because there records are mixed up and they didn’t record or send a letter to an address which was left at the personal ampt.. funy country funny people… not being ripped off by them though.

first time i drive there in Europe they catch me 2 time on speed 40/30 km (zuerich) (:\r\n58/50 km (Luzern) (:\r\nso i have to pay chf 140… ):\r\nnext time well not drive there in Europe it is better for me and my wallet …\r\n pls do not think i am speeder no but the problem was in gas pedal some car need time to reduce speed when removing your foot …\r\nthanks

I can confirm this. Last year I was caught speeding in Zurich, I was doing maybe 80km/h in the 50km/h zone (I was doing the same speed as everybody else, except they knew when to suddenly break, and I didn’t). I chose to ignore the mails I got after this. However, I was driving through the border yesterday, and was pulled over for routine check … and I was wanted by the police, and under threats of imprisonment I paid a fine of 750 swizz francs (just about 600 euros). I “gladly” paid the fine, and suggest you all do the same when you get the chance.\r\n\r\nThe border police had a field day with me. Decided to do a full check, I had to get naked in a small room as they wanted to check for drugs at the same time, confiscated the car for several hours while they checked every corner of it, and damaged parts of the gear box in the process … you cant do anything about it. I was slowly realizing i might not reach my boat from northern germany later that day to get back home. Mentioning this to the border police got me this response : “How can I say this nicely … I dont care.”.\r\n\r\nOh well, guess I sort of deserved it.\r\nBe careful down there.